Two days later:

"Hey guys, looks like there's an outpost up there!" Louis said, voice laced with barely-restrained hope.

Following his pointing finger, my eyes rested on a squat, rectangular blot atop a nearby cliff, darker against the dark sky. A single searchlight slashed through the ebon veil, sweeping back and forth like a signal flag.

My heart sped up a little. We'd been trekking along this God-forsaken mountain road for the better part of two days now, winding slowly southward through rolling peaks and craggy valleys and scavenging what we could from abandoned vehicles.. We had seen no signs of life other than stray cars and trucks since we left the wreckage of the military convoy, and even a forlorn bunker was a hopeful sign.

"Oh, thank God," Rochelle breathed, closing her eyes for a moment.

"You think they got some food?" Coach said, a gleam in his eye.

"Oh good," Nick drawled, voice dripping with scorn, "They'll probably mistake us for zombies and shoot us… if anyone's still alive in there."

"Well, we won't know until we look," Bill said, starting off. "Let's find a way up there."

-O-

"Deserted. See? What did I say?" Nick said, standing in the middle of the room, arms akimbo. His Barrett was slung across his back, and a malicious grin of vindictive satisfaction split his features.

"Shut up, Suit," Francis growled, folding his arms over his chest and slumping against a nearby wall.

It was true, though - the outpost was deserted. The corpses of what must have been a hundred-odd zombies were piled against the exterior fence, and a pair of bloody tire tracks led away, into the woods. The only building in the place, a squat concrete bunker, contained only overturned tables, scattered papers and dead zombies.

"Alright people, spread out," Bill said, walking over to an upright desk and sorting through the papers scattered about atop it. "Search the room, see if you can find anything useful."

And so we did. Each of us picked a spot and started sifting through papers, pulling open desks and rummaging through filing cabinets jammed to bursting with manila envelopes. I had gone through several dozen inventory lists, casualty reports and military briefings and was on the verge of giving up hope when Ellis piped up.

"Hey ya'll, I found somethin'!" the southerner yelled out, and I looked over to see him holding up a sheet of paper with a triumphant grin on his face.

We all came over to take a look, and Louis let out an appreciative whistle. My heart almost skipped a beat as I read the crisp, ordered handwriting.

Looks like the reports coming in of a refugee city in Infected country might have been true. On a recon flight, one of my pilots radioed in about a mass of scrap cobbled together to form houses. He said there were hundreds of dwellings, almost a proper city. They fired on him, but he got away.

After a few long moments of silence, I said, my voice barely above a whisper, "There are more survivors out there? And from the sounds of it… a lot more!"

Coach rubbed his chin with a meaty hand, and said "I dunno… ya'll see what it says here? 'They fired on him.' I don' like the sound of that."

"I almost hate to say it, but I agree with Coach," Nick said, from the back of the group. "We go there, and we'll get shot. I guarantee it."

"Yeah, well, a few weeks ago you said th' Army was gunna shoot us, an' they didn't!" Ellis burst out, taking a step towards his comrade.

"Yeah?" Nick said, voice dripping with contempt, "And look how that turned out! Sure, they didn't shoot us, but they dumped us in the middle of a goddamn pine swamp!"

I sighed, massaging the bridge of my nose. This constant bickering was giving me a headache.

"The rest of you can do whatever the hell you want," Francis growled, taking an aggressive stance right next to me and putting a hand on my shoulder, "But I'm stickin' with Zoey. Sure, there's a chance we could get shot, but how's that any worse than what we're facing out here?"

Reaching up, I gave Francis's hand a little squeeze in thanks, and he wrapped a thick arm protectively around my shoulders, glaring around as if worried that one of the onlookers was going to try to pry me away. I smiled wryly at the thought - I loved Francis to death, but he could be a bit overprotective of me at times.

Louis looked like he was wracked with indecision, but Bill stepped over to stand next to us. "Can't just let you two wander around by yourselves, can I?" he said, flashing an amused smile at us around the cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Well," Rochelle said, fastidiously checking the load on the Desert Eagle she carried, "Looks like it's time to go our separate ways."

"Gotta agree," Coach added, walking up and extending a hand to Bill, who took it and winced at the big football coach's crushing grip. "It's been great travelin' with ya'll. If this whole 'immune city' thing don't work out, come find us. We'll be holed up wherever this 'Foxtrot Bunker' is."

"Will do," Bill said, stepping back and snapping a salute. "Good luck and godspeed, soldier."

-O-

"Everyone," Francis growled, wrenching his booted foot free of the root he had gotten it lodged in, "I just want you all to know… I'm starting to hate this plan."

And, truth be told, so was I. So far, it had gotten us nowhere except lost in a dark forest of bare trees and tangled roots, following obscure directions scrounged from military reports. Bill's compass had been broken in the APC crash, so the only thing we had to gauge direction with was the moon, pale and wan overhead.

"Hey guys!" came Louis's voice, excited and hopeful, from the woods to my left. "Over here!"

We all jogged over to see what it was he found, and came to a halt in front of an abandoned trailer squatting in the middle of a forest clearing, desolate and ominous.

"What the hell is this supposed to be, Louis?" Francis growled, resting his AA12 - which was, sadly, almost out of ammo - on his shoulder and glaring at the trailer in front of him.

Louis wordlessly pointed to a piece of graffiti scrawled in one of the windows. I bent in for a closer look, and my eyes widened.

Jack,

We've gone to New Columbus. Meet us there - just follow the river south. They say it's completely free of infected, a city built just for immunes like us!

Love, Em

"Well, shit," Francis said, face breaking into a grin. "Looks like we've finally found a clue!" Slapping Louis on the back hard enough to stumble the slim man forward a step, Francis boomed "Nice one, Lou!"

Louis grinned, and the two men slapped a high-five. I quirked an eyebrow at the pair, feeling my mouth tug up into a small smile. It was good to see that they had gotten over whatever it was that had kept them apart for so long. Now if only one of them would tell me what the hell the problem was in the first place.

"Okay, people," Bill said, slipping into the role of battlefield commander as easily as slipping into a new shirt, "Fan out. Look for nearby rivers, but for the love of God, stay within sight of the trailer. I'll stay here so I can keep a watch on all of you. Be sure to call out if you get attacked."

We all nodded, and headed our separate ways. I stalked off through the thick woods, trying to keep my footsteps as quiet as possible on the carpet of decaying leaves and pine needles that blanketed the ground.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when large, powerful hands rested lightly on my shoulders, and I was about to turn and shoot whatever it was when Francis's voice whispered in my ear "Hey, babe."

Turning around and glaring up at his huge, dark silhouette, I hissed "Francis, you idiot! You scared me out of my wits! I almost shot you!"

Francis merely shrugged and leaned in for a kiss, twining the fingers of his free hand with mine. I closed my eyes for a moment, then pulled away reluctantly and whispered "We should really be looking for that river…"

Francis brushed this away with a dismissive wave of his shotgun, purring "Ah, Louis can do that on his own for five minutes. We ain't had much time together since that night in the ranch house."

Letting my rifle fall from my fingers, I reached up and encircled Francis's neck with my arms, pulling him down for another kiss. He put his hands on my sides, pulling me even tighter against him as we exchanged wordless passions with our lips.

And then we were suddenly interrupted as Louis screamed "Oh, shit! Shit!"

Francis broke away from me and turned, snarling curses and impolite comments about Louis's parentage, and was about to shout a reply when gunfire broke out, shattering the night stillness with its staccato roar.